A Spark Of Hope
by La-Lucy
Summary: Based around the 73rd Hunger Games. Follow Ayanna Clarke a 16 year old girl from District 12 and the events which change her life, and Panem's future, forever... OC


**A Spark of Hope**

**Chapter 1: At the Beginning**

I awake with a sudden start. My eyes flying open as a terrified scream invades my sleep, not that I'd had a peaceful one anyway…not with the reaping happening today. I automatically stretched my hand out to my side, seeking the warmth of my little sister, but I only find the tough, cold fabric of the mattress.

I now sit up fully awake, my long dark brown hair cascading across my face as I did so.

"Elana?" I question groggily, my voice clogged with sleep, as I rub my eyes gently.

"It was me…" I hear a quiet, frightened whisper from across the room.

I immediately rush across the room to my little sister, Elana. I brush her soft brown curls out of her face which has sweat glistening off of it as a result of her nightmare.

"It won't be… your name is only in there once" I remind her softly. "Shhh, calm down…you're safe" I coo to her gently and she begins to relax slightly.

"What about Ray? What about you?" she protests as her misty grey eyes find mine.

I hesitate for a split second as I allow my mind to process her question before answering her. "We'll be okay as well" I try to reassure her and although she believes my calm tone and is comforted by it only I know myself that it isn't the entire truth.

Ray is our older brother and is 18 years old. Consequently that means he will have 7 entries in the reaping this year however due to our family originating from the Seam and being so poor he takes out tesserae as well. Tesserae is a small ration of oil and poor quality grain for one person. Lots of children in the Seam opt to take out Tesserae in order to prevent their families from starving to death. In order to protect yourself and your family you have to increase your chance of being reaped for the Hunger Games…a fate which no one would ever want nor wish for anybody else.

Ray was determined that neither I nor Elana, his little sisters, would ever have to take out tesserae and face a greater possibility of being reaped. Ray was extremely protective over the both of us, although I was now 16 and had been openly aware of the suffering and poverty that both surrounded and sometimes had even consumed us, he refused to let me aid him in our family's survival.

What he didn't know however is that since the age of 13 I had been teaching myself how hunt animals in the woods beyond district 12. It had started during the cold, wintry, bitter months 3 years ago. The mines had been closed for what had felt like an eternity and my father was unable to work. The loss of his income had devastated our family and we were struggling to survive. I sat back seeing my family slowly start to starve, their cheeks being to hallow and their bodies start to shrink. I hated being as powerless as the people I loved suffered but we were all powerless against it. There was no chance of work and therefore there was no source of money or food. One day it just became too much for me and I ran from out run down house and just kept running. I finally came to a halt as I reached the wire fence that surrounded the district.

My eyes were being to burn with the tears I was holding back and my vision became blurry as I fell to the dusty ground. I felt a single, warm tear fall down my cheek and I brought my hand up in surprise as I wiped it away and stared at it. I hardly ever cried. As I raised my head I saw the meadow and woods beyond the barbed wire and stared at them curiously. The rich green grass and the tall leafy trees, they looked like an escape. Maybe there were some plants I could harvest and take home to cook beyond the fence. I stood up and listened to the fence. Silence. That meant that the electricity wasn't switched on despite the claim from the officials that it was on constantly. Not many were brave enough to venture beyond the fence as that itself was illegal and hunting and gathering could result in punishment as severe as death. But I was desperate. I needed to do something to save myself and my family. I could do something.

It was then when I took my first steps outside district 12 and those were the steps that began to save my family from starvation. We made dandelion soup with the wild dandelions I had found in the meadow and drank nettle broth from the nettles I had carefully collected. As the weeks passed by I began to grow braver and venture deeper into the woods and then a plan began to form in my mind. I could also hunt the animals that lived here too. I took the old hunting knives that we kept in our home, passed on from past generations of our family, and hadn't been used for a long time. I began to practice my aim and as I grew more skilled I was able to hunt small animals such as squirrels and rabbits. I never told my family about the woods. They would tell me it was too dangerous and that I wasn't allowed to ever go back. Instead I told them that I had come across the plants whilst walking around the district and that I had discovered the animals dead near the fence or that some particularly generous traders had allowed me to exchange some of my possessions for food.

My family never questioned my stories. Maybe they fully believed them or maybe they didn't want to question them. Our family was saved from starvation and nobody believed that was a bad thing. For a while I was convinced that Ray was concerned that I had gone to Cray, the head peace keeper in our district. But I assured him that I hadn't and there was no chance I ever would I promised Ray.

I only ever confided in one person about the woods. That person was my best friend Ethan. I trusted him wholly and sometimes he joined me in the woods and we spent our days lazily lying in the luscious green grass talking about anything we wanted to.

I continued to visit the woods even after my father had returned to work in the mines. They had become more than my means to survival, they had become my saviour. Their beautiful flowers, tall trees and breath-taking views offered me a chance to escape the poverty in the Seam and enter my own world. A world outside district 12. A world outside the Capitol. A world outside my own reality.

But at some point I had to return to reality. I gave Elana a small smile as I pulled her blanket back over her.

"Get some more sleep" I said softly, kissing her forehead.

"Can you tell me a story?"

"Sure" I smiled genuinely at her as she moved over so I could lie next to her on the bed. I began to tell her about some of the fairy tales I had been told when I was little.

* * *

Elana fell asleep a short while after and I kissed her once more on her forehead before I gently got up and got changed. I walked into the living room and gave a grim smile to my brother.

"Chin up Ayanna" he said giving me a sarcastic smile.

"It is" I muttered as I sat down next to him.

"Listen" he said as he gently put his hand on my shoulder "It's going to be fine. Okay?"

I nodded slowly, not wanting him to worry at me; I gave him a half-hearted smile which he returned.

"We're all going to be fine" he said gently as he hugged me.

"Better get moving, the reaping's in a couple of hours" I murmured into his dark brown hair.

Ray laughed "You know how to ruin a lovely brother-sister moment, don't you?" his grey Seam eyes sparkled slightly as he chuckled.

I glared at him with my dark brown eyes, a rarity in the Seam, "Sure do" I replied coolly.

"Well you'd better run off and find that _boyfriend_ of yours" he teased. "Don't worry I won't tell mum and dad"

"He's not my _boyfriend_" I hissed at him.

"Yeah, yeah I see the way he looks at you"

"He's my best friend Ray; he's always there for me" I said I rose from my seat and made my way to the door.

"Sure Aya" he laughed before I slammed the door on my way out.

* * *

"Just 2 more years Ayanna, just 2 more and then we're free" my best friend Ethan said as he turned his head towards me and his bright blue eyes looked into mine.

My brown eyes light up as I gave him a genuine smile. We had walked down to the woods to spend our last hour together before we had to be at the reaping.

"Imagine what we can do then" Ethan said whilst bending down to pluck a daisy from the grass.

I looked at him with admiring eyes. Ethan was always a dreamer; I knew what would happen after we reached the age when we were excluded from the reaping. We would have to start working, probably in the mines…a place that were constantly present in my nightmares. I hated seeing my father leave for work every day in them, not knowing if he'd make it back. Mine accidents often happened.

However when I was with Ethan I felt like I to could dream. What could we do after the reaping? I gazed off into the distance at the woods that stretched for miles. Could we escape? I wiped the thought from my mind; I couldn't leave my family behind.

Ethan laughed as he gently took my hands in his. My dark brown hair blew into my face as the cool breeze hit it. He raised his hand and pushed my hair behind my ear. His blue eyes gazed at me softly and held a look of concern.

"We'd better get back, we wouldn't want to be late for the reaping now would we?" he said.

I scoffed "of course not!"

He dropped one of my hands but kept a hold of the other as he began to lead me back towards the direction of the fence.

"We're going be okay" he smiled at me.

"We are" I agreed, although there was an unpleasant feeling in my gut as I did so. Would we be?

* * *

**I just wanted to try a Hunger Games story :) The main characters name is Ayanna which means 'beautiful flower' or something like that :') I have some ideas for this story but I'm not sure whether to continue it or not. This chapter is a little bit too similar to the actually book for me but that will definitely change as the story goes on. Let me know if you like it xx**


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